Challenges

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It’s even harder to keep
a secret that could expose not only your family, but an entire
species. That’s what Frankie Cavanaugh must do. As the daughter of
the leader of the Wisdom Council, it’s up to her to step into her
father’s shoes until another leader is chosen.

It’s also up to her to
continue her lineage within the species.

She wants to do neither.
She considers the shifter gene a curse rather than a gift, robbing
her of a normal life. Unfortunately, the Council doesn’t see it
that way and is determined to wed her to their next leader – by
force, if necessary.

Tanner Coalson is fresh
out of college and ready to tackle whatever life has in store for
him. First item on his to-do list is marrying the woman he has loved
for years. He knows Frankie will baulk at the notion because she’s
fifteen years older and was his childhood sitter. He’s no longer a
young boy, but a man who is determined to win her heart, and he is
prepared to do just that.

But convincing her they
are destined to be together gets much harder when she is kidnapped by
an old enemy. In order to survive, Frankie may have to reveal her
secret, and Tanner may have to accept what seems impossible, or
reject the love of his life.

Talon Cavanaugh stood on
the grassy knoll above the cemetery, watching the procession as it
wound through the cracked tombstones to the final resting place of
the Wisdom Council’s leader, Leonard Cavanaugh. He smiled in
satisfaction as the urn was laid into the dirt pit next to where his
human wife would someday reside. Soon, he thought, soon all would be
in place and he could claim his birthright.

“Son, I know how much you
loved your uncle. Are you sure you don’t want to go down and join
in the ceremony?” his father asked.

Well, the man he had
called ‘father’ for most of his life, inquired. It was only on
his mother, Sylvia’s, death bed, that Talon had learned the truth.
He was the son of Leonard Cavanaugh, the owl leader of the Wisdom
Council, who had died never knowing he had fathered a son. Sylvia had
wanted to ensure the bloodline stayed pure when it became apparent
that the old fool was planning to wed that woman, Paige, an inferior
human. Sylvia had slipped a potion into his wine as the family
celebrated her engagement to the leader’s brother, Lester, Talon’s
assumed father. Leonard Cavanaugh had mated with Sylvia that night,
the potion making him hallucinate that he was with his beloved Paige.
Sylvia’s plan worked, and she gave birth to Talon, who was a
pureblood shifter, keeping the bloodline intact.

Glancing over his
shoulder, Talon shook his head in the negative at Lester. He had no
need to go down there. He was the true heir to the leadership
position of the Council. He knew the death procedure - one year of
grieving for the widow and the family. He looked to Frankie
Cavanaugh. She was a beautiful woman, despite her human blood. Her
red hair glowed like flames in the sunlight. She was appropriately
dressed in black, her cultural brooch, made of gold and the feathers
of her father, pinned to her breast. She was crying quietly into a
handkerchief, hugging her mother, in solace. It was almost a pity she
would have to die, but there could only be one true leader.

And that position would
be filled by him.

About Maggie
Adams:Maggie Adams is an Amazon
Best Selling contemporary romance author. Her first book in the
Tempered Steel Series, Whistlin’ Dixie, debuted in Amazon’s Top
100 for Women’s Fiction, humor, on November, 2014. Since
then, she has consistently made the Amazon best seller 5-star list
with Leather and Lace, Something’s Gotta Give, and Love, Marriage &
Mayhem. She is also the recipient of the Dayreader Review’s
Best New Series Award for 2015. Her series has launched the tiny town
of Grafton, Illinois, into International recognition with sales in
Mexico, Ireland, Scotland, Australia and the UK.

Back home,
she resides in the Midwest, with her high school sweetheart, Ned, and
their children, Katie (Kyle) and Ross (Valerie) and first
granddaughter, Lorelei, otherwise known as “The Boss”